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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-08 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC SERVICE REVIEW

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): My question, again, is to the Premier. Why has the government engaged new Thinker in Residence John McTernan to conduct the government's seventh so-called independent review of the public sector in nine years, especially as the government announced in the budget exactly what it was going to do to the Public Service?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:18): I have to say that I wished that the Leader of the Opposition—I missed her this morning at the United Nation's Women's Breakfast, and I missed her last night particularly because I thought she would be there, because it was an outstanding presentation. What John McTernan is working on, and the Thinkers in Residence—let us just go back to some of the things. Out of the residency of Baroness Greenfield we got the Royal Institution of Science in Australia. We also got the Australian Science—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —Media Centre, which links about 500 media organisations to thousands of scientists. Maire Smith's residency led to the development of the biotech incubator. We had Stephen Schneider who shared the Nobel—

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order, Premier. The Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: My question was specifically about the current Thinker in Residence—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs REDMOND: —and why the government needed to appoint him to look again at the public sector when it has had six earlier so-called independent reviews of the public sector. The Premier's answer to this point—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs REDMOND: —has gone nowhere near that question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I do not uphold that—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Unley! I am listening very carefully to answers today, and questions. I think the Premier's answer is relevant to the question. However, I will listen carefully.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: We know that the Liberals don't like ideas. We know they don't want us to be leaders—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: We know that they do not want our state to move ahead. We know why there wasn't development of the mining industry under the Liberals. We know why we went backwards in terms of jobs under the Liberals. We know why we saw them cutting police under the Liberals. But the difference is, we are bringing people here to advise us and work with us about how we can continue to be leaders in Australia, rather than the followers that the Liberals would have. So, do you want to hear what John—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, member for Stuart.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order: standing order 98, Madam Speaker. The minister must respond to the substance of the question and not debate.

The SPEAKER: Member for Stuart, the problem is that I can't hear a word that the Premier is saying because of all the noise coming from your side of the chamber. I hope you are sticking to the substance of the question, Premier.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Thank you, ma'am. What has happened is that we have asked John McTernan not to review the public sector, or the Public Service. What we have asked John McTernan to do is to work with us to help ensure that service delivery to the public is improved even further, and can I just say on that, we have just recently—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, you are very loud today, as usual, but louder still.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: So what we are asking him to do is to work with us to improve the services of the Public Service to the public. Let me give you some ideas on that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: They don't want to listen.

The SPEAKER: Premier, have you finished your answer?

The Hon. M.D. RANN: No, ma'am, I haven't. But it is interesting that, recently, the productivity committee and various other national reports have found that satisfaction with the housing trust, with our police and with our hospitals is higher than in other states, but we believe we must continually work to improve them further, and that is why John McTernan is here, and that's why we are very proud to have him as a Thinker in Residence, rather than the alternative, which is basically a party that is moribund of new ideas.

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